ExtremeRavens Posted June 13 Posted June 13 Just one more practice remains in the Ravens’ three-day mandatory minicamp in Owings Mills before players break for six weeks ahead of the start of of training camp in late July. What exactly that summer hiatus will look like for Lamar Jackson and his wide receivers and tight ends, however, remains to be seen. To wit, does Jackson plan to get his group of pass catchers together for extra work to build on that all-important chemistry away from the noise of coaches and full-team practices? “I would love to do that,” he said Wednesday. “But some guys don’t wanna leave their state. “They gonna have to come to South Florida. They gonna have to do it. We got to. We trying to get to that Super Bowl. For us to do that, we gotta grind, we gotta build chemistry.” In some ways, they have. Two weeks ago, while much of the rest of the team was participating in Baltimore’s voluntary organized team activities, receivers Zay Flowers and Nelson Agholor were working on routes and timing with Jackson at McNair Park in Pompano Beach, where Jackson played youth football. With all of them living in South Florida during the offseason, it was easy to put the session together. Of course, most of the Ravens’ receivers and tight ends live elsewhere, including Mark Andrews and Rashod Bateman, and it’s unclear how much time Jackson, Flowers and Agholor put in. Still, there’s been progress with Jackson and by extension his receivers and tight ends in the second year of offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s scheme. One of the more notable areas of focus is on Jackson’s cadence. Several times this week, he has either drawn the defense offsides or, worse yet, the offense has been flagged for a false start. “We’re doing a lot with cadence,” coach John Harbaugh said. “We’re doing a lot with at-the-line communication, and it’s challenging, so we understand there are going to be those moments, and you have a choice. You either always go on one, or you push through it [and] say, ‘We’re going to live with the mistakes, but we’re going to get good at it,’ so we want to get good at it, because we think cadence is a weapon.” Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, left, talks with quarterbacks coach Tee Martin during practice in Owings Mills. (Kevin Richardson/Staff) It’s not a new one to Jackson or the Ravens, but one they’ve been focused on throughout the offseason so far — and for good reason. In last season’s AFC championship game loss to the Kansas City Chiefs at M&T Bank Stadium, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo mostly baffled the two-time NFL Most Valuable Player with a mix of man and zone coverage, as well as blitzes. According to Next Gen Stats, Kansas City blitzed on 43.5% of Jackson’s dropbacks, including four all-out blitzes. Jackson was sacked four times — although three of them came against zone coverage — as well as intercepted once and fumbled once. He finished just 20-for-37 for 272 yards with one touchdown and Baltimore lost, 17-10. One way to help negate the blitz is to change protection and routes at the line of scrimmage, as well as altering the cadence. “From us watching film and getting into games and teams changing things up on us, we just want to add an extra layer to our calls,” Jackson said. One way to get better at it, Jackson said, is study and repetition. Being pushed by quarterbacks coach Tee Martin is another. That much was evident during Wednesday’s practice, which Martin said was Jackson’s best day “in a long time” in terms of having the freedom to do what he wanted to do. That included with his cadence, something that was added to last year’s offense and has since been tweaked and expanded upon. It helps to go against a defense in practice that last season led the NFL in sacks, takeaways and points allowed per game. Defensive coordinator Zach Orr has been dialing up exotic looks and bringing the pressure. “Now we’re just testing it out and seeing at how it goes against our defense,” Martin said. “It’s good for us, too, because it’s testing our rules and it’s testing the quarterback’s ability to change plays at the line of scrimmage.” There have been some growing pains, including several false starts, but coaches aren’t worried about that in June. “With the amount of communication we’re doing up front and with the amount and play changing we’re doing up front, it’s gonna come with some of that,” Martin said. “But we have to have that in our division, especially for home games with the pass rushers that we’re facing not only in our division but throughout the AFC and the guys that we’re playing when you look at our schedule.” That includes a rematch against the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Week 1. “It has been a tool in the past,” Martin said. “We’re just gonna continue to take it to the next level. Lamar is outstanding at it, whether we’re going non-verbal on the road, or whether we’re going verbal at home, we have a lot of different ones that gives us an advantage so people don’t know when we’re snapping the ball and slowing them down a little bit if we can. “I thought Kansas City did do a good job in the AFC championship game of challenging some of our protections and doing some things that did cause some issues. That was an area of growth. That was an area of us looking at tape and saying ‘how can we improve in those areas?’” Like everything the Ravens do on offense, it starts with Jackson. “My cadence has been pretty good, I believe,” he said. “I haven’t heard anything about it.” If Jackson’s cadence and chemistry with his receivers can continue to evolve, though, perhaps he also won’t hear anything about not having reached the Super Bowl, either. View the full article Quote
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